Tag Archives: Seva

You are welcome to join us as we celebrate with an Akhand Path. There are a number of ways to relate to this auspicious celebration: listen, read, sponsor or cook one of the Langar meals, and participate in our Gurdwara opening and closing the special event.

October Commemorations

An Akhand Path is the continuous reading of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Scripture and Guru, reading from beginning to end, all 1430 pages.

The event lasts some 72 hours at our Gurdwara and depends on a team of readers who read 24 hours a day. (If the Akhand Path is to be recited only in Gurmukhi, it is completed in 48 hours. Readings at Guru Ram Das Gurdwara are done in English, Punjabi and Gurmukhi depending on the reader's preference. )

The reading (or Path) is undertaken for various reasons. It can be in honor of a particular event, to mark a happy or sad occasion within a family, or simply to increase one’s feeling of connection to the Divine. Langar, the Sikh tradition of sharing a meal, is served each day.

Historical Note
In 1742, when Sikhs were in the jungles of the Punjab in northern India, one Sikh warrior, a woman named Bibi Sundari, was wounded in battle. Knowing she was at the end of her mortal life, she requested that an Akhand Path be arranged. She lay next to the Guru Granth Sahib and listened to the full recitation of this Path. After kirtan, Ardas and Hukam, she received the Karah Prashad, uttered "Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh" and departed this life. Thus began the tradition of reading an Akhand Path.

Participate
Would you like to read in the upcoming Akhand Path? You can sign up online. See Akhand Path Oct 2012 for details and to sign up.

There are many ways to participate in the Akhand Path: by volunteering to provide service, contributing toward langars or bringing food, or by asking to be be mentioned in our prayers during this Akhand Path.

Come celebrate Spring in the 2012 Ashram Garden. Clean up weekends will begin March 17/18 and 23/24 and probably the weekend after that. Also, we are adding our prayers to the weekly Gurdwara Ardas as well as our own personal meditations for the land to be revitalized and an abundant this coming harvest! Mar 17… Continue Reading